The invention relates to method and device for attracting and trapping or otherwise disabling insects, and, in particular, to a counterflow device that uses an insect attractant in an outflow from the trap.
Suction traps have been used in a variety of configurations to trap or kill insects. It is known to use screened material to trap the insects thus drawn into the trap, and to use mechanical, electrical or poison means to disable, injure or kill the insects. It is also known to use fan mechanisms to generate the suction flow, and to use lights or air-borne attractants to lure the insects to the vicinity of the suction flow. In some configurations, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,196,577 (Plunkett) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,090 (Cody), a small flow of an insect attractant is exhausted from the device to the outside of a much larger suction stream.
For devices using air-borne attractants, the trapping efficiency is related to the type of attractant used, the direction of the attractant, the direction of the suction stream, and the direction of the suction stream relative to the attractant.